Shades of Green

Travelling with a baby can be challenging, especially when visiting our hometown in India for festivals and family events. With a little one, we have to bring along extra stuff like a bath chair, high chair, toys, and books. Normally, we try to make things convenient by assuming we'll be staying for a while. However, it gets tough because every time we visit, we have to do without these conveniences. On top of that, I recently started working, and it's hard to find a proper space with a table and chair to get my job done. I like being in a comfortable space where everything I need is available. The problem is, we're not super wealthy, so we can't buy everything we need for every place we go. Also, there's not much storage space in our homes—both mine and my husband's are already full. We end up living out of our luggage bags, which is inconvenient, especially for longer stays. So, our rooms are always cluttered, and it can be a bit overwhelming. In the first few

  The story of a woman who suffered from a bleeding disorder for several years and who believed that if she could just touch the garment of Jesus she would be healed is described in Mark 5:25-34. When the woman touches Jesus' cloak, she is healed immediately and Jesus tells her that her faith has healed her. This story drew my thoughts to the verse where Jesus talks about having faith like a mustard seed. I pondered over how one could have faith like a mustard seed and why did Jesus choose a mustard seed to depict faith. A mustard seed is so small that if you were to hold it and accidentally drop it somewhere, you wouldn't be able to find it so easily. Yet, Jesus took the example of a mustard seed because Matthew 13:31-32 says, " The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its bran

As a child, I always thought that to hear God's voice meant to hear God's voice in its literal sense! I recall pleading, complaining, and praying to God to just speak to me like he spoke to little Samuel in the bible. At some point, I remember losing my faith in God because he never spoke to me. And it's astonishingly true that it took me several years to understand that God's voice spoke through our minds, through the people and objects around us, and through symbols and signs. The Bible stories we are taught when we were kids depict stories where God actually spoke with his voice. Some stories I vividly remember are when God spoke to Moses on the mountain, when God spoke to Daniel in the lion's den, to Samuel when he was just lying down at night, and so on. In all these instances, God's voice is pictured as just thundering out from heaven and the earth-shaking. As a kid, I believed that God would speak to me the same way he did to them. When I grew up and star

 I love having quotes stuck on the walls of my home. Sometimes when I read a catchy line or verse from the book I'm reading, I just can't resist my urge to write it down and stick it on the wall. During times of distress or even happiness, some lines can give our hearts the courage, hope, and humility we require at that time. Our minds can't always think straight in this crazy little world. Sometimes we need words of encouragement to keep our boats afloat. Having quotes on the walls gives quick and easy access to what we may need. One verse that even Jesus encourages us to stick on the doors or walls of our homes is from Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (NIV), which says "The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." To love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and strength, we must use the time, talents, energy and resources he bestowed upon us to serve him and do good in his name. Think about how

 It's not always so easy as it looks! Before I had my baby, I thought breastfeeding was super easy. I never really saw the nitty-gritties, the loud ear-aching cries, the sleepless nights, all the craziness! All I saw was moms handling babies like a pro, walking into a feeding room and coming back just as happy in a matter of few minutes. My breastfeeding journey was hard. Yesterday night, once again, my baby took me back to the crazy memories of my first two months learning to breastfeed my baby. Upon googling I learnt that what happened yesterday is also called as a 'nursing strike' or 'breast refusal.'  I delivered my tiny feet on 2nd April 2023, exactly on the same day as my birthday. I know it's so wow. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would have a baby on my birthday! But he's here now in this beautiful little world.  Everything in my world has changed ever since he came into my life. Before my delivery, I thought I would lose my physical appearan

My three and a half month old baby is sleeping as I write this blog. I want to be done with his daily bath routine and sit down to type and so I made all the noise I could to wake him up, but he ignored me and is sleeping soundly oblivious to the noise. On other days when I want to be as quiet as a mouse he's alert to even the tiniest sounds I make. Anyways, it looks like with a baby you've got to work around the little time you get here and there. The topic I'm writing about today is a random thought I had one week back which I later researched and obtained some eye-opening lessons. I really wanted to make sure that I jotted it down so I kept the outline for this blog earlier. Today I'm completing it with the free time I got. The Diderot effect described by James Clear in his book Atomic Habits is a very interesting concept. It revolves around how the philosopher Diderot bought a new scarlet robe with the gift money he got and then ended up buying more and more things

 Just the other day, I learned something about myself. I got up early this particular morning and let my dog out for his morning stroll and then went back inside the house to make myself a cup of tea. As the milk boiled, I thought to myself about the unusual silence this morning. It wasn't very much like my dog to not bark into the dead silence of dawn or to run inside the house, sniffing around, wagging his tail. I took my cup of tea and strolled out to check on him. He was there indeed, but with something that looked like a dirty black cloth to me held in his mouth. I walked towards him to get a closer look. Such are times when I strongly wished I wasn't myopic. As I got closer, he took his cloth and ran further away from me. I got a glimpse of something hanging that looked very much like a rat's tail. To prove my suspicion true, I called my father to check and confirm what he was seeing. And then, the horror began! It was a dead black rat, indeed! I began to shiver and s

We came as dust. We are dust. And we return to earth as dust... The Spirit lives forever. What we acquire in this worldly life, stays here. We carry only the Spirit with us to the life after. The 'life after' is that which matters the most; the one we should be proud of. Live today to make one heart happier, whether through your actions or your thoughts. For we do not know how our days are numbered. Next time you see the girl on Instagram, flaunting how a serum erased her skin's blemishes or the man claiming how an insurance saved his family from big losses... Remember that the biggest loss you could ever encounter is to have been a loser in the eyes of God - to have lived a life unfulfilled and ungrateful. God is your biggest insurance. Your body is your greatest blessing. The prayers you chant are the serum to all your sufferings. The very energies God has blessed this Universe with are in the air you breathe, the water you drink, the sounds you hear, and the ight you see

  As I happily sauntered my way into college boarding house, in 2014, I made way too many friends. I often bumped into familiar, pleasant, sometimes grumpy faces along the corridor. But I saw them often and that made all the difference; I had never felt so lonely as I would in just two years from then. What changed then?  “The doors changed.” When prompted to picture what a hostel would look like, my thoughts were that of an old, shabby, building with dirty unpainted walls; rooms with no tiles, windows that were never cleaned, beds of steel (I pictured a bed and that’s a little too much to ask for, I know), ceiling fans that collected too much dust – the color barely visible - from decades of no dusting, and common bathrooms that one had to wait in queues for. During my first year, my hostel looked just as I had pictured it to be – or maybe slightly better. I made friends easily. Anyone could barge into anybody’s room anytime. Doors were mostly open. Now, there’s a funny reason why doo

One lovely serene morning, daylight filled the skies, the moon big and round, yet to sink into the earth's uncertainty; I and my husband decided to take a walk. We woke up late than usual during the past few weeks, which was also one reason why he seldom took me for walks along with him.  Well, today I was adamant! I felt unfit working at my nine to six job with no physical activity. I needed an endorphin rush that I knew I would get from the walk. And so I went.  The paddy fields were lush green from all the recently sowed grains. White storks scattered around the field probably feeding on the earthworms. The cold air brushed against our hair as we made rapid strides. Sweat trickled down our chests and legs, that made our garments stick to the skin.  I wasn't able to keep pace with my husband so well as I used to. I cursed myself for missing those morning walks, slightly jealous of my husband who was working out at the gym, playing badminton, and also brisk-walking every morni

I can't wait to go home! There's nothing like home. I miss my sister. I miss my dog, Teddy. I miss my mom, dad, and grandmom. I miss them so much.  A few months back, my sister and I sat along with our mom reminiscing memories from our childhood. We love teasing our mom for how rude she used to be and how bad teachers were those days. It's just beautiful. Days just went by so quick that, before we even realized we've become young adults.  I sat laughing to myself as I came across this particular childhood memory of mine -- I, my sister and mom went out for some evening shopping. Those days mom had just learnt how to drive and so we usually travelled everywhere on our Maruti Alto.  We'd almost been done with our shopping. But, mummy had to get some medicines for our grandpa. It was probably six thirty by then and was getting dark. She parked the car by the side of the road and told us to sit inside the car, while she would go get the medicines. We both happily agreed

"Don't give up, even if the path seems narrow" Every woman deserves just as many rights as a man does. When I first got into the corporate world, landing my first job after university, I was happy beyond words.  One month into the job, I realized I was being paid lesser than I deserved. I came to senses on the fact that I could have negotiated for an increase in my pay. But, what pulled me back then from even thinking about a negotiation? When I paid exactly the same fee for a degree in the University as every male counterpart of mine did, what possibly could have made me refrain from a salary negotiation?  I was highly unaware of this widely prevalent gender gap that still exists until I came across Sheryl Sandberg's TEDx talk show on YouTube.  "The phenomenon of capable people being plagued by self-doubt has a name - the impostor syndrome" She writes about the reason why women consistently underestimate themselves and that in moments when men judge their p

My thoughts have since always and forever bothered me. I never realized the kind of impact my thoughts had on my life until I came across a few books that helped me realize it. Have you noticed how we self-sabotage ourselves most of the time. Accepting everything else around us seems possible, except us. We tend to always place our failures on billboards and our achievements in small bits of paper, folded and hidden somewhere.  When we were little children, we always did things which made us happy. We loved ourselves naturally. But then as we grew up, we were taught to put others before us because self-love equaled selfishness. That led us to completely ignoring anything we did for us and prioritizing everything we did for others.  Over time, we started to find solace in other people's approval of us. Any time we got reprimanded for something we did, especially by the ones we loved, we were sent straight to gloom. If we were good today, tomorrow we were nothing but trash. Okay. If

Me to my connection - "I've just graduated and I'm looking for jobs." My connection - "Hope for the best! Jobs are harder to get during this pandemic." This leaves me wondering... Were job hunts in actual fact easier prior to the pandemic? Was procuring a job much seamless than it is today?  2020 was like the sweet candy I had been craving for, all through six years of my study curriculum. Only to discover, the candy had been deceiving me and many others like me with its looks! Urrgh!  Freshers of 2020 are certainly having a bad time and let me not lie, some jolly good time too! ;-) One year back, interviews were mostly dress-up, reach the destination on time, wait for your turn, walk-in, impress the panellists, get rejected, come back home, lament, try again, and the cycle repeats.  Today, it's gotten better. No dress-up! No hassles like having to reach on time! No waiting! Less tension as we don't have to see the million other candidates waiting fo

Envy is 'a human nature' which we reckon to be no more; when in fact the truth is that it legit exists much worse and stronger than ever before. This emotion subsists inside us and all around us. While some people counterbalance for their emotions of envy whenever something delightful happens in their life, another few who cannot contain this emotion within themselves and are always unsatisfied with the unfairness of life; find joy in the destruction and infliction of pain upon others who get better than them in life.  Long back, jealousy could be expressed or articulated by seizing anything the envier wanted or even by resorting to killing. Take the biblical example of Cain and Abel where Cain killed Abel because he could not tolerate his brother. From the legendary story 'Padmaavat', you'll know how Sultan Alauddin Khilji tries to destroy a prosperous Kingdom with the sole aim of pursuing Queen Padmavati. The emotion jealousy could be unleashed and let free even i

Hi Readers, In my previous blog, I talked about the choices we have to make in life when we arrive at a juncture:  Stand by what you choose That made me think about those choices we play no part in, those choices which have been pre-decided for us. Our curly hair, plump face, skinny hands, dark skin, narrow eyes, an imprisoned parent, a lost child, an amputated leg, and so much more. Do we get a choice to make about this? Can we change it even if we want to? I had a really good friend who was on the heavier side. She was obese from a very young age, was diagnosed with diabetes when she was just ten, had PCOS when she turned fifteen, encountered facial hair growth when she was too young to even understand it. She shares her story oftentimes with disappointment as she recalls the many pleasures she was denied of which other kids of her age were bestowed with. Did she have a choice?  A great majority of us keep narrowing our focus onto the drawbacks we have. "I hate my curly hair&quo

The inspiration for what I am writing right now comes from an interview given by Indian actress Neena Gupta.  She is a brave lady who once got pregnant out of wedlock and decided to keep her baby. When the interviewer asks her if the most difficult choice she had to make in her life was, whether or not to keep the baby; she says, "the most difficult choice was to stand by the decision she had taken." Visit this link to get a brief sketch of the interview:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QjUaLYQqI4 Plenty times, in life we arrive at the intersection of the list of many choices we have available. And we get to choose only one among them. Each one of us has our own strategies of analysing which ones among them work the best for us. We finally decide to choose one. But how do we know if we made the right choice? What if in the long run, we regret our decision? Can we turn back and redo it all from the start?  The funny fact is that, in life; many choices we make do not have a r